Editorial : Familiar moorings: on foreign policy re-orientation

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Indonesia, Malaysia and
Singapore, three of India’s most important partners in Southeast Asia, could
not have come at a more important moment in Indian foreign policy positioning(स्थिति/स्थिति निर्धारण). In
the past few months, the government has shifted considerably(विशेष रूप से/बड़े पैमाने पर) in its signalling, with Mr. Modi

visiting China and Russia
for informal summits with Presidents Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin, respectively(सम्मान से/प्रतिष्ठा से).
The fact that these visits have taken place at a time the U.S. administration
hassharpened(गतिवृद्धि करना) its
aim at China and Russia with sanctions and threats of a trade war suggests Mr.
Modi is also attempting(प्रयास करने से/आज़माना) to moderate India’s strategic(महत्वपूर्ण)
posturing(तेवर) on the global stage, and striving(प्रयास/झगड़ना) for
a more balanced approach in what it increasingly(तेजी से) sees as an uncertain world. India has also maintained its
commitment to relations with the U.S. in order to build a “free and open”
Indo-Pacific region, maintain the “international rules-based order”, and work
together to combat terrorism and terror financing — as they have done more
recently at the UN and the Financial Action Task Force. Meanwhile, India’s
membership of both the Quadrilateral( चतुर्भुज ) (with the U.S., Japan and Australia) and the Shanghai
Cooperation Organisation (the Russia-China-led grouping of Central Asian
countries, whose summit Mr. Modi will attend this week) is also an indicator of
the new balance that New Delhi seeks.

It is significant(महत्वपूर्ण/सार्थक) that in Singapore Mr. Modi chose the platform of the
Shangri-La Dialogue of defence leaders of the Asia-Pacific region to emphasise(प्रमुख बनाना/जोर देना) Indian
“strategic autonomy”. In his speech on the concept of the “Indo-Pacific” he
referred to India’s relations with Russia, the U.S. and China. Given his
government’s particular distaste( विचलन/अरुचि )for the term in the past, it is telling that Mr. Modi appeared
to be channelling some of the “Bandung spirit of 1955” that led to the
formation of the Non-Aligned Movement, when he praised(की सराहना की) Singapore
for teaching the world the importance of making “free and fair choices” and “embracing(संमिलित करना) diversity(विविधता/परिवर्तन) at home”. “When nations stand on the side of principles,
not behind one power or the other, they earn the respect of the world,” Mr.
Modi said as he unveiled(अनावरण किया) a seven-point vision for the Indo-Pacific region. While
warning the world about the possible return of “great power rivalries(प्रतिद्वंद्विता /विरोध)”, he
emphasised the importance and centrality of the ASEAN in the concept of the
Indo-Pacific. The “principled” vision Mr. Modi projects is a departure from the
transactionalism and pragmatism(हस्तक्षेप/उपयोगितावाद) espoused by many in South Block over the last few years.
However, it may also be a return to familiar moorings of Indian foreign policy, necessitated(जरूरी/मजबूर करना) by
what the Prime Minister identified as the “shifting plates of global politics
and the fault lines of history”.